Chair lift with improved boarding

ABSTRACT

A station for boarding a chairlift for continuously moving ropeway transport. The chairlift includes several seats, either fixed or detachably coupled at regular intervals. Each seat is taken in turn by successive ramps, an arrival, a turnaround and a departure ramp, the arrival and departure ramps being parallel. The turnaround ramp includes two turnings, upstream and downstream, separated by a rectilinear transfer ramp. A boarding site is located at an exit of the downstream turning. An angle α between the arrival and transfer ramps, corresponding to the upstream turning is acute. An angle between the transfer and departure ramps, corresponding to the downstream turning is obtuse. The drive elements cause each seat to pivot on itself at the transfer ramp.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has for its object a chairlift that is improved asto its loading station. To do this, each seat, before arriving at theloading station, is oriented to facilitate loading.

The state of the art can be defined by the document FR 2.614.858, whichproposes a process for telepherage of the family of chairlifts, usingsingle place seats whose bucket seats are orientable relative to thesuspension, whilst the bodyguard tubes remain fixed, thereby permittingfacilitating loading and unloading of the passengers whilst ensuring therelative position of the bodyguard relative to the bucket seat forlocking this latter when leaving the loading zone. An assembly of guidesalong the ground in collaboration with a roller, a lug, a sliding pivot,permits stabilizing the seats, oriented the bucket seats and locking thebucket seats.

This type of chairlift, in addition to the fact that it is used only forso-called fixed seats, is impossible to use for seats having more thantwo sitting locations. Thus, in the loading zone, each seat is presentedlaterally, which is to say that the back is positioned within the turnof the turnaround.

Moreover, the safety of such an installation is not optimum, the personbefore loading presenting his back to the seat and said seat movingsubstantially perpendicularly to the movement of said person who sits onit. There is a risk that this person will not find the seat. Thesecurement of the bodyguard, which is not movable as the seat is, doesnot facilitate loading either.

Finally, from an economic point of view, the ground of the loadingstation must be arranged to receive guide means, such as rails, and thepivoting means for the seat must be able to blocked to gain movement ofthe seats between the departure and arrival stations.

FR 2.236.707: Chairlifts with non-detachable seats spaced along anaerial cable that continuously moves along a closed path, passing to thedeparture station through a loading emplacement for skiers, comprisingan access track and a fixed track which converge with said movement pathof the seats at an acute angle to said loading station to permit skiersupon leaving to face in the same direction as the seats that areinserted progressively into the intervals provided between successiveseats.

This patent discloses a chairlift that can hardly be used. It ispossible to have skiers walk in a straight line, but it is very delicateto have them turn and above all when there are six skiers in line, inthis patent, there are described two 30° turns and the seat of thechairlift is itself always in a straight line.

EP 0 443 913: The loading zone in the vehicle moving slowly through astation is broken up by means of separator elements into corridorsoriented according to the direction forming an acute angle α with thedirection of advance of the vehicle. This arrangement promotes apredetermined boarding by the passengers and leads to an increase in thespace required for the vehicles.

This patent discloses a loading dock which forms an S shaped path forthe passengers before boarding.

FR 2.692.858: This cable transport installation, of which at least oneis a driver and is driven at a constant speed according to a closed loopbetween two stations and carrying a plurality of vehicles ensuring thetransportation properly so-called, comprises at the level of eachstation an arrival path provided with a device for slowing said vehiclesto reduce their speed after uncoupling of the cable or cables, and adeparture path provided with a starting device to bring the vehicles tothe speed of the cable or cables when they are attached to the latter atthe outlet of the station. Each station moreover comprises a lineartransfer device for the cabin from the arrival path to the departurepath, which transfer is perpendicular relative to the axis of saidpaths.

This patent discloses an installation with cabins. There are nopassengers nor pivoting seats.

FR 1.393.778: The invention has for its object a mechanical raisinginstallation for aerial transport, between a so-called lower station anda so-called upper station for skiers keeping their skis on the feet atleast in the outward sense, characterized in that it comprises vehicleswith lateral loading and discharging, continuously driven along a guidein the form of a closed loop and in which the skiers are carried withtheir skis disposed transversely relative to the path of the vehicles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has for its object the increase of the flow rateof a chairlift by modifying the position of the seat in the regionpreceding loading.

This modification consists in a rotation of the seat from an angle whichpermits the front surface of the seat to approach a parallel to thewaiting line of skiers.

This position reduces substantially the phenomenon of “sweeping” aboutthe curves, which increases with the width of the seat.

To this end, according to a first embodiment, the present inventionrelates to a loading station for a chairlift for aerial cable transportthat is continuously moving, the chairlift comprising several seats,with at least one place for each person, coupled to the cable andregularly spaced so as to be fixed or detachable, at the level of theloading station, relative to said cable, each seat being directed bysuccessive ramps, called arrival, turnaround and departure, the arrivaland departure ramps being parallel, the turnaround ramp comprises twoturns, called upstream and downstream, separated by a rectilineartransfer ramp, that the line of skiers is in alignment with thedeparture ramp.

The loading station is characterized by the fact that a loading place islocated at the outlet of the down-stream turn, that the angle (α)between the arrival and transfer ramps, corresponding to the upstreamturn, is acute and the angle (β) between the transfer and departureramps, corresponding to the downstream turn, is obtuse.

According to a second embodiment, the drive elements cause each seat topivot on itself at the level of the transfer ramp before comingalongside.

The drive elements cause the seat to rotate through an angle Φ whichpermits the front surface of the seat to approach a perpendicular to theline of waiting persons, this position of the seat reducing verysubstantially the phenomenon of “sweeping” about the curves, whichincreases with the width of the seat.

No matter what the embodiment, on the one hand, the angle α of theupstream turn is comprised between 35 and 55°, and, on the other hand,the angle β of the downstream turn is comprised between 125 and 145°.

More precisely, on the one hand, the angle α of the upstream turn is45°, and, on the other hand, the angle β of the downstream turn is 135°.

According to the second embodiment, each seat is pivoted by 20 to 40°,the front surface of said seat orienting inwardly of the turn formed bythe arrival, turning and departure ramps.

More precisely, each seat is pivoted by 30°, the front surface of saidseat orienting toward the interior of the turn formed by the arrival,turnaround and departure ramps.

No matter what the embodiment, between the upstream and downstreamturns, on the transfer ramp, the drive elements accelerate the seats.

The ratio between the speed of each seat at the level of the loadingstation and at the level of the transfer station is proportional to theangle α or β of the upstream or downstream turn.

This ratio is:$\frac{V\quad {loading}}{V\quad {transfer}} = {{\cos \quad \alpha} = {\sin \quad \beta}}$

In the case in which the people who wish to board are directed by anendless belt, which moves them toward the embarkation station, the speedof the endless belt is substantially identical to the speed of theturning seats.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are given by way of indicative but notlimiting example. They show two embodiments according to the invention.They permit easy understanding of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the path of the seats in a conventionalarrangement.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the path of the seats in an arrangementaccording to a first embodiment of the invention when the seat is at thelevel of the upstream turn.

FIG. 3 is a view identical to FIG. 2, when the seat is at the level ofthe transfer ramp.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the movement of the seats in an arrangementaccording to a second embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

According to FIG. 1, the loading station 21 is of entirely conventionalstyle. It comprises a chairlift 22 provided with an aerial cable 23, onwhich are secured detachably seats 24 permitting the transfer of personsor skiers 25.

The arrows permit distinguishing the direction of movement of said seats24.

First of all, there is an arrival ramp 26, then a turnaround ramp 27 andfinally a departure ramp 28.

The seats 24 from the unloading station, not shown in the figures, reachthe arrival ramp 26 whilst the departure ramp 28 permits the seats 24 tobe oriented in the direction of this unloading station, generallylocated at a height.

Again in an altogether conventional way, there is, at the end of theturnaround ramp 27, a loading station 32, on which skiers 25 take theirplace to be taken on by the seats 24. These latter 25 are brought to thelevel of this station 32 by means of an endless belt 34.

It will be noted that the front surface 33 of each seat 24 has amovement which exactly follows the path which is defined by the aerialcable 23.

In this FIG. 1, it will be seen that the sweep of the seat 24 permitsonly the delayed opening of the gates 35. The skiers are taken on by theseat 24 before the loading station 32, and the innermost skier 25 in theline will be seated prematurely at a place which is not his.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, a first embodiment of the present invention is shown.There is a loading station 1 of a chairlift 2, which comprises aerialcable 3. This aerial cable 3 comprises at regular intervals seats 4which are detachable. Each seat 4 permits the boarding of a certainnumber of skiers 5 which are six in number in these figures, this numberbeing non-limiting but representing a particularly interestingembodiment.

In an altogether conventional manner, there is thus an arrival ramp 6,on which the seats 4 are slowed to pass from a speed which is equivalentto the speed of movement, to a speed which is substantially 1.2 metersper second (m/s). In this case, the distance between two adjacent seats4 is 6.48 m=δ.

The duration between the passage of a first seat 4 and the followingseat is 5.4 s.

Then comes the turnaround ramp 7 whose particular structure will bedescribed hereinafter.

Finally, the turnaround ramp 7 leads to the departure ramp 8 which is anacceleration ramp permitting the engagement of the grippers of each seat4 and the return to full speed of each seat 4 to resume the speed ofmovement of the aerial cable 3.

The invention resides entirely in the shape of this turnaround ramp 7,there are two turns, an upstream one 9, the other a downstream one 11,separated from each other by a transfer ramp 10.

The interest of this invention resides in the fact that the two turns,upstream 9 and downstream 11, are not at the same level. They are offsetsuch that the transfer ramp 10 is in a transverse position and not as isconventional perpendicular to the direction of movement of the seats 4.

In this position, there is thus an angle α between the arrival ramp 6and the transfer ramp 10, and an angle β between this same transfer ramp10 and the departure ramp 8.

According to the example shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the angle α of theupstream turn 9 in a horizontal projection of the path precedingloading, is 45°. At the level of the downstream turn 11, the angle β isthus 135°, α+β corresponding to 180°.

In FIG. 2, the seat 4 thus has an entirely normal position.

In FIG. 3, the seat 4 has undergone a rotation of 30°, which places thefront surface 13 at 15° relative to the line of waiting skiers 5.

Thus, the angle of 30° corresponds to the angle Φ between thelongitudinal axis of the seat 4 and the perpendicular to the transferramp 10, which is to say to the longitudinal axis of said seat 4 nothaving turned.

It is thus evident that the arrival ramp 6 and the departure ramp 8 willbe parallel.

After opening the gates 15, the skiers 5 are directed by an endless belt14 which travels at constant speed, of the order of 1 m/s, which isidentical to the speed of each seat 4, at the level of the loadingstation 12 but also at the level of the upstream and downstream turns 9and 11.

In this arrangement, it is evident that the sweeping of the external endof the seat 4 is substantially nonexistent and that the loading of theskiers 5 on the same seat 4 is substantially simultaneous.

Moreover, at the level of the transfer ramp 10, the speed can be 1.4m/s, the speed being relative to the angle α or the angle β.

Thus:

1.4×cos 45°=0.99, and

1.4×sin 135°=0.99,

namely about 1 m/s, which corresponds to the speed of movement of thebelt 14, and hence to the speed of arrival of the skiers 5 at the levelof the loading station 12.

This speed increase permits, for an identical interval of time, which isto say 5.4 s, to increase substantially the distance between two seats 4which is thus of γ=7.56 meters.

The two essential advantages of these two devices, are that, on the onehand, the rotation of the seat 4, for tangentially coming alongside thatlimits the sweeping phenomenon, and permitting rapid opening of thegates 15 after the passage of said seat 4 preceding the skiers 5.

On the other hand, the increase of the distance between two adjacentseats 4, renders more certain and comfortable the approach phase for theskiers 5 toward the loading station 12.

The invention fits into the volume of a so-called standard station. Theonly modifications relate to the variation of speed in the pre-loadingphase and the emplacement of a device permitting rotation of the seatbefore and after loading. This device can be made from the suspension ofthe seat, from the gripper or from a system of parallel drive. Thisinvention is particularly adapted to detachable installations with sixseats, but it can also be applied to installations with a fixed gripperand no matter what the capacity of the seats.

According to FIG. 2, the row of skiers is stopped at the downstream endof the conveyor belt 14 ready to be loaded onto the seat 4. At thisposition, the speed of the seat 4 has been brought to 1 m/s.

A second row of skiers 5 is located behind the seat 4 on the conveyorbelt 14 whose speed is also 1 m/s. The third row of skiers 5 approachesthe closed gates 15.

In FIG. 3, the first row of skiers 5 is loaded on the seat 4 which isunder control of the launcher. The second row is ready to leave the belt14 and to take its place on the loading station 12. The second seat 4 isthus ready to pass before the gates which will open when the seat 4faces the second gate 15.

In FIG. 4, the tangential coming alongside takes place at an angle of15°, the angles α and β being respectively 15° and 165°.

The same result can be obtained, according to FIG. 4, without pivotingthe seat and by inclining the preceding loading path by 15°. This wouldincrease in the rolling and pulling of the seats. The length of thepre-loading zone between the gate and the loading would then also begreatly increased, which gave rise to great difficulty in control ofboarding.

In this embodiment, there is no rotation of the seat 4. The length ofthe contour and the length of the belt are much greater, from whichresults a not negligible increase in cost.

Moreover, three rows of skiers 5 are located simultaneously on the belt,which results in loading being very complicated or even impossible.

What is claimed is:
 1. A combination of a chairlift and a loadingstation of the chairlift, the chairlift being connected to acontinuously moving aerial cable and comprising: a plurality of seatsdetachably coupled to the continuously moving cable, each of theplurality of seats having at least one seating place for at least oneuser, and being regularly spaced relative to the continuously movingcable, each of the plurality of seats, in an operative mode following asuccession of ramps, said succession of ramps having, an arrival ramp,said plurality of seats having a first direction of movement when saidplurality of seats are at said arrival ramp, a turnaround ramp havingfirst and second turns, said first turn having a first end being at afirst end of the arrival ramp, a rectilinear transfer ramp being betweena second end of the first turn and a first end of the second turn, and adeparture ramp being parallel to said arrival ramp and facing a seconddirection opposite said first direction, said second direction beingco-linear with a loading direction of said at least one user, whereinsaid loading station is at a second end of the second turn, and an angleα between the arrival ramp and the transfer ramp is acute and an angle βbetween the transfer ramp and the departure ramp is obtuse, a frontsurface of each of said plurality of seats forming an acute angle θ withsaid departure ramp when said front surface is adjacent said departureramp.
 2. The combination according to claim 1 further comprising arotation device for pivoting each of said plurality of seats when eachof said plurality of seats is at the transfer ramp, relative to thecontinuously moving aerial cable.
 3. The combination according to claim2 wherein the rotation device pivots through an angle so that the frontsurface of each of the plurality of seats when said front surfaceapproaches a parallel to a line of waiting skiers, to reduce “sweeping”.4. The combination according to claim 2, wherein each of the pluralityof seats pivots by 20-40°, the front surface of each of the plurality ofseats being oriented toward an interior of the first and second turns.5. The combination according to claim 2, wherein each of the pluralityof seats pivots by 30°, the front surface of each of the plurality ofseats being oriented inwardly of the first and second turns.
 6. Thecombination according to claim 1 wherein the angle α is between 35 and55°, and an angle β 125 and 145°.
 7. The combination according to claim1 wherein the angle α is 45°, and the angle β 135°.
 8. The combinationaccording to claim 1, further comprising drive elements for driving thechairlift and accelerating the plurality of seats between the first andsecond turns.
 9. The combination according to claim 8, wherein a ratiobetween a speed of each of the plurality of seats at the loading stationand at the transfer ramp is proportional to at least one of the angles αand β.
 10. The combination according to claim 9, wherein the ratio is:$\frac{V\quad {loading}}{V\quad {transfer}} = {{\cos \quad \alpha} = {\sin \quad {\beta.}}}$


11. The combination according to claim 9 further comprising an endlessbelt for transporting a line of waiting skiers to the loading station, aspeed of the endless belt being substantially the same as to a speed ofeach of the plurality of seats in the first and second turns.
 12. Acombination of a chairlift and a loading station of the chairlift, thechairlift being connected to a continuously moving aerial cable andcomprising: a plurality of seats detachably connected to thecontinuously moving aerial cable; a loading station for loading at leastone user on to one of the plurality of seats; and means for positioningthe plurality of seats relative to the at least one user, before theplurality of seats reaches the loading station when the chairlift is inoperation.
 13. The combination as claimed in claim 12, furthercomprising a rotation means for rotating each of the plurality of seatsrelative to the continuously moving aerial cable.
 14. A combination of achairlift and a loading station of the chair lift, the chairlift beingconnected to a continuously moving aerial cable and comprising: aplurality of seats detachably connected to the continuously movingaerial cable; a loading station for loading at least one user on to oneof the plurality of seats, the at least one user being loaded in a firstdirection; and a plurality of ramps in succession, the plurality oframps comprising an arrival ramp, a direction of movement of theplurality of seats at the arrival ramp being opposite the firstdirection; a turnaround ramp having only two turns, a first turn and asecond turn, each of the plurality of seats turning through an obtuseangle when each of the plurality of seats are in the first turn, andeach of the plurality of seats turning through an acute angle when eachof the plurality of seats are in the second turn, so that the directionof movement of the plurality of seats is the same as the first directionwhen each of the plurality of seats has moved through the second turn; arectilinear transfer ramp between the first and second turns; and adeparture ramp at the loading station so that when the at least one useris loaded onto said one of the plurality of seats, the at least one userremains in the first direction.
 15. The combination as claimed in claim14, further comprising a rotation device for pivoting each of theplurality of seat relative to the continuously moving aerial cable. 16.The combination as claimed in claim 15, wherein each the seats pivots bybetween 20 and 40 degrees.
 17. The combination as claimed in claim 14,further comprising at least one drive element for moving the chairlift,the at least one drive element accelerating each of the plurality ofseats between the first and second turns.